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‘Modern Family’ Takes Home Five Emmys

Steve Levitan, an executive producer of “Modern Family,” accepts the award for outstanding comedy series on Sunday night as the cast and crew looked on.Credit
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

LOS ANGELES — If, after 48 episodes, there was still any doubt that “Modern Family” is the most adored sitcom on television, it was eliminated here at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night.

The telecast began with four awards in a row to members of the “Modern Family” team, and it ended the same way it did last year, with the two-year-old show being named the best comedy on television.

Backstage, the show’s co-creator, Steven Levitan, said the sweep was “a little surreal.” Referring to all the Emmy statuettes that might show up on the set on Monday morning, he joked, “We’re getting a label maker tonight.”

The Emmy Awards also reaffirmed the television industry’s respect for AMC’s “Mad Men,” naming it television’s best drama for the fourth year in a row despite stiff competition from a pair of HBO dramas, “Boardwalk Empire” and “Game of Thrones.” Clutching his statue, Matthew Weiner, the creator of “Mad Men,” told the audience, “I did not think that was going to happen.”

The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences voters also recognized the end of “Friday Night Lights,” the acclaimed DirecTV and NBC drama, by awarding Emmys to Kyle Chandler, who played Coach Eric Taylor, and to Jason Katims, the head writer of the series.

But from start to finish, it felt like a night for “Modern Family.” At one point the show’s host, Jane Lynch of Fox’s “Glee,” said, “Welcome back to the ‘Modern Family’ awards.”

Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen, who play a lovable — and lovably flawed — husband and wife on “Modern Family,” won the awards for best supporting actor and actress; Michael Alan Spiller won a directing award; Mr. Levitan and Jeffrey Richman, two of the top writers on the series, won for an episode called “Caught in the Act.”

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Matthew Weiner, the creator of “Mad Men,” accepts the award for outstanding drama series, the fourth year in a row the AMC show has won in that category.Credit
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Onstage, Ms. Bowen reacted in much the same way that her character, Claire Dunphy, probably would: “I don’t know what I’m going to talk about in therapy next week now!”

Ms. Lynch was among those nominated in the best supporting actress category. She came onstage after a commercial break and said she wanted to amend what she had said on the red carpet minutes earlier about there being no losers at the Emmys.

“There are losers, and I am one,” she said. “It hurts. If I didn’t have to host the rest of the show, I’d be at home by now eating a tub of turkey meatballs in the dark. I would.”

In the best comedy category, "Modern Family" beat out a prior three-time winner, NBC’s “30 Rock,” and a perceived runner-up last year, “Glee." Accepting the writing award early in the evening, Mr. Richman delivered a thank-you message to “our brilliant cast and crew for your dedication, your genius and your kindness.”

Winners in the drama categories included Margo Martindale, for a supporting role on FX’s “Justified”; Peter Dinklage for a supporting role on “Game of Thrones”; and Martin Scorsese for directing the first episode of “Boardwalk Empire.”

Sunday felt like a final finale for “Friday Night Lights,” which wrapped up production a year ago but was nominated for the first time in the best drama category. The night before the awards show, members of the show’s production met up at a restaurant in Hollywood — Dillon’s, like the name of the Texas town where “Friday Night Lights” is set — for what Mr. Chandler called a casual get-together. They took over half the bar, he said, and “said thank you one more time.”

“Just to have the show acknowledged in its final season feels really perfect,” said Mr. Chandler’s TV wife, Connie Britton, indirectly noting the prior seasons when the show was snubbed by Emmy voters.

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Melissa McCarthy (“Mike & Molly”) was named best actress in a comedy.Credit
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

In the best actress in a drama category, Ms. Britton lost to Julianna Margulies of CBS’s “Good Wife.”

Perhaps the biggest surprise during the three-hour telecast on Fox came early on, when Amy Poehler and the five other contenders in the category of outstanding lead actress in a comedy gathered onstage as their names were read. The women held hands as Melissa McCarthy won for her role on the new CBS sitcom “Mike & Molly." Ms. McCarthy said later that it was Ms. Poehler’s idea to appear onstage.

On the eve of the season premiere of another CBS sitcom, “Two and a Half Men,” the actor who was fired from that show last spring, Charlie Sheen, continued to attempt career rehabilitation by presenting the award for outstanding lead actor in a comedy. With dramatic flair, he told his former colleagues, “From the bottom of my heart, I wish you nothing but the best for this upcoming season.”

For the second year the winner in the category was Jim Parsons, a star of a third CBS sitcom, “The Big Bang Theory.” It was a win by extension for Chuck Lorre, who produces both sitcoms and who sparred publicly with Mr. Sheen.

“The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” on Comedy Central, was named the outstanding variety, music or comedy series for the ninth time and was singled out for its writing for the seventh time. “The Amazing Race,” on CBS, was named the outstanding reality competition series for the eighth time.

“Downton Abbey” was named the best mini-series or movie of the year, and one of its stars, Maggie Smith, was named best supporting actress in a mini-series or movie, beating three actresses from “Mildred Pierce.” But Kate Winslet was named best actress and Guy Pearce was named best supporting actor for “Mildred Pierce.” The best actor in a mini-series or movie award went to Barry Pepper for “The Kennedys.”

After the awards show had wrapped, Mr. Weiner of “Mad Men” was asked how it felt to be a four-time-in-a-row winner, and he said he had not yet absorbed it. Only three other shows, “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law” and “The West Wing” have accomplished the same feat.